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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



CARMINELLA 



OARMINELLA 



COLLEGE AND OTHER VERSE 



BY 



CHARLES W. LOUX 

Author of "White Ribbons" 



I 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 
Carmen Book Company 



1902 



THE LISRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

T>'0 Coptfer- RtcSivED 

S£P, 20 190? 



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OoPVRinWT EHTWY 

4XL 'Lh. ic\0 1- 
-\MS ^ XXg No. 



COPV g. 



Copyright, 1902, 
By Charles W. lyOux. 



• • • • ••% • ••• ••• • • > 



V 



M 



To My Classmates of thh 

Cla00 ot inmeti8*^wo, Xata^cttc College, 

This Booklet is Inscribed. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 




BEFORE" — Pre-Matrimonial Aberrations: 




Love and Long Ago .... 


11 


The Merrythought .... 


12 


The Song of the Garden Gate . 


13 


By Moonlight . . 


14 


A Barrier 


15 


An Impossible Condition 


17 


Love is Not Blind 


18 


"Not to Forget" .... 


19 


Botanical ...... 


19 


Get Another 


20 


AFTER"— Post-Matrimonial Cogitations : 




Meine Frau 


21 


Kisses Seven 


22 


The Young Pater 


23 


By the Perkiomen .... 


24 


The Highway Robber .... 


25 


The Matrimonial Broom 


26 


Kitty ....... 


26 


Lullaby 


27 


Farewell to the Muse .... 


27 


By the Kitchen Fire .... 


28 



CARMINELLA 



Stray College Verse : 



From The I^afayette, 




TheV-Trick 


29 


How it Affects Women . 


. 30 


Hypnopsis .... 


30 


The Muse Jokes 


30 


Effect and Cause 


31 


Sometimes . . . . 


. 31 


Playing Horse 


32 


A General Law 


. 32 


The Maid, Again 


33 


Speed the Day 


. 33 


The Astronomer . 


33 


From Ninety-Two's Melange, 




Junior Class Ode 


. 35 


Ye Senior .... 


36 


Ye Junior . . . . 


. 36 


Ye Sophomore . 


36 


Ye Freshman 


. 37 


At Faston, Pa. . 


37 


To Ninety-Three . 


. 37 


A Warning 


38 


The Ravin' Sophomore . 


. 38 


An Uncommon Breeze 


40 



CONTENTS 



Class Day Poem 



9 

41 



Tears and Smiles : 



September 19, 1901 . 


49 


When We Meet Again . 


. 49 


Be Humble 


50 


Cheap Notoriety . 


51 


The Village Poet 


51 


In January .... 


53 


"Plantations" . 


53 


Different Life Paths 


. 53 


Unspoken Thoughts and Passion 


s . 54 


Greatness .... 


. 55 


The Animal Man 


56 


Congenial Company 


56 


Justice a Cripple 


57 


Wolves and Tigers 


. 57 


The Old Home Sold . 


59 


By the 0-hi-o 


. 61 


A "Goose Egg" 


62 


A Threat .... 


. 63 


Finis to Volume One 


64 



lO 



CARMINELLA 



MiLLENiAL Harmonies : 

How Long, O Lord? 
It is DoPxe 
Come Out 
The Foolish Virgins 
Look Up . 
Just Beyond . 
The Way . 
Inferior Superiors . 
Jesu, Geh' Voran 



65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
69 
70 
70 
71 



CARMINELLA. 

"BEFORE": 

PRE-MATRIMONIAL ABERRATIONS. 



LOVE AND LONG AGO. 

With e'en the master poet's pains, 

His lyre, soft and low, 
Will ever find its sweetest strains 

In love and long ago. 

The silver lake is peaceful when 
Dim twilight sleeps above. 

Yet thrice more when our mental ken 
Is lit with peaceful love. 

God's field, with starry blossoms gay, 
Doth still more gaily show 

When in the beautiful far-away 
You see the long-ago. 



12 CARMINELLA 

O love and long ago ! the themes 

Of happy rich and poor ! 
When poets cease to dream their dreams, 

These songs will still endure. 

Ah yes, these themes will fill our song 
Where bliss is universal love, 

Where long-ago is ages long, 
In realms of light above. 

THE MERRYTHOUGHT. 

'T was a happy little maiden. 
Eyes with cunning fraught, 

Who, one dinner, with me tried to 
Break a merrythought. 

"Which of us will live the longer?" 

So she whispered low; 
Soon the fateful lot determined 

Who was first to go. 

Presently there came another 

Wish-bone by her way; 
And she asked me, "Who'll the sooner 

See the wedding day?" 



"BEFORE" 13 

But she paused — then with her sister 

Pulled it; for she knew 
That the bone could not be broken 

Equally in two. 



THE SONG OF THE GARDEN GATE. 

The night winds were rocking the flowers to 

sleep, 
The moonbeams preparing their vigils to keep, 

And birds singing evening greeting, 
While down by the rickety, well-loaded gate. 
Two forms in the swift-fleeing hours did wait. 

Two hearts were in unison beating. 

The blissful impression that circumstance 

wrought 
Created in him deep poetical thought 

Of the rickety gate a-swinging; 
Its creakings appeared like the voice of a fay 
That came from a paradise not far away, — 

The voice of a fay that was singing. 



14 CARMINELLA 

To-night, by the saddening moonHght, once more 
He goes by the place whither often before 

His steps he was joyously bringing; 
But the music is sad and the music is low, 
And sounds like unbearable discord and woe, 

While idly the old gate is swinging. 

The fates were unwilling that he should possess 
The angel whom now some one else doth caress. 

The angel to whom he was clinging ; 
And though he should do the best that he can. 
It knocks all the poetry out of the man 

As idly the old gate is swinging. 



BY MOONLIGHT. 

When first they met, the light 
Of bow-shaped Luna bright 

Shone forth, and lo. 
Each gleaming ray departs 
Upon two beating hearts. 
Like silver-pointed darts 

From Cupid's bow. 



"BEFORE" 

Through each deceptive beam 
Beauty alone would gleam 

Upon her face; 
What the dim light could hide 
Fond fancy soon supplied, 
And thus he but espied 

A form of grace. 

But light of sun revealed 
The blemishes concealed 

In moonlit smiles; 
So lovers, then, beware 
Of forms by moonlight fair 
But lovely only there, 

And shun their wiles. 



A BARRIER. 

''Thou art so near and yet so far,' 
Thus he was sadly musing, 

While calmly in the palace car 
Y\£r book she was perusing. 



i6 CARMINELLA 

Through opened window zephyrs stole 
And tossed her beauteous tresses, 

\Miile he beneath love's strong control 
Scarce all his sighs suppresses. 

The train still swiftly moves along 
And brings him to his station ; 

Her heart remains as full of song, 
His full of desolation. 

Why thus within his bosom's core 
Was he his love concealing ? 

Why did he not, as oft before, 
Give utterance to his feeling ? 

O barrier huge as Alpine cliffs ! 

His was a strong obstruction ; 
His was the worst of lover's "if's" — 

He had no introduction. 

O ill device ! why give such pain 
To some that might have mated, 

By ever making them remain 
Thus widely separated? 

Oh, that we always have to list 
To custom's stem instruction — 

That half life's joys must oft be missed 
For want of an introduction. 



"BEFORE" 17 

AN IMPOSSIBLE CONDITION. 

O ye melancholy 

Memories of folly, 
Why torment my soul once more? 

Gladly would I bury 

All imaginary 

Thoughts of grief and worry, 
But the real I deplore. 

In the happy hours 

When youth's dewy flowers 
Freshly bloomed beside my way. 

Life, as in some Aden, 

With no grief was laden, 

For I loved a maiden — 
Yes, a maiden fair as day. 

Let me but remember 

Till my Hfe's December, 
Those blue eyes and flowing hair ; 

But, oh, what did sever 

Her from me forever — 

Yes, ah, yes, forever? 
'T was her father, I declare. 



iS CARMINELLA 

I cannot be to her 
A delighted wooer 

While he has me in this fix : 
Dim became my vision 
When that politician 
Made the great condition, — 

"You must change your politics. 



LOVE IS NOT BLIND. 

It cannot be that love is blind, 

Sweet, happy love from heaven sent, 

Th.at bringeth hope to heart and mind, 
And sweetens life with calm content. 

Two souls first loved, one happy morn. 

While o'er them streamed the sun's clear light. 

Has life their love asunder torn ? 

Ah, no; and therefore love had sight. 

Dim shone the lamp where once two wooed, 

That was a long, long time ago ; 
Long, too, they have those moments rued; 

Was love then blind? No, 'twas not so. 



"BEFORE" 

For blame not love, it well can find 
The true heart if it daylight be ; 

But in the dark, although not blind, 
'Tis true, of course, love cannot see. 



"NOT TO FORGET." 

"Forgive you I will, but I will not forget," 
She told him as down by the river they met ; 
But the river rolled on and is rolling on still, 
He waited for her, still longer he will; 
The love that he looked for will not return 
Though ever so much he should hope for and 

yearn ; 
Some day he will learn and sadly believe 
That not to forget means not to forgive. 



BOTANICAL. 

We were out a-botanizing. 

Plucking rarest flowers of May, 

And, what may be most surprising, 
Pressed the blossoms by the way. 



20 CARMINELLA 

And though much you may dispute us, 
Since botanic lore we lack, 

While we never found arbutus 

Still we brought *'our beauties" back, 

GET ANOTHER. 

Married to another? — 
Well, that's rather rough ; 

But, my jilted brother, 
There are girls enough. 

Don't you end your wishes 

In the ocean blue; 
You should catch the fishes. 

Not the fishes you. 

Get about your duties; 

Join again the whirl; 
"Examine other beauties ;" 

Get another girl. 



"AFTER": 
POST-MATRIMONIAL COGITATIONS. 



MEINE FRAU. 

In the dimples on her cheek 
Play the blushes "hide and seek" ; 
On her lips ripe kisses grow, 
But no faster come than go, 
These she does on me bestow, — 
Meine frau. 

All the softness of the sky 
Lies concentered in her eye; 
She, with laughter of the brooks, 
Heaven's sweetness in her looks, 
Fills my heart and all its nooks, — 
Meine frau. 



CARMINELLA 

She is young, and through Ufe's years 
Lives her beauty, but for fears 
That it might not, she of late 
Brought a little duplicate. 
Just as sweet as is my mate, 
Meine frau. 

Lasting love to you I vow, 
Baby mine and meine frau. 

KISSES SEVEN. 

I kissed our pretty chambermaid 
As she drew aside a curtain ; 

The morning sun ne'er shone upon 
So ripe a lip, that's certain. 

I met the washerwoman next 
And raised a slight sensation. 

But was not spurned, for she returned 
My tendered osculation. 

I met our merry cook, who gets 
Our breakfasts in completeness ; 

She forgave my theft, for more was left 
Of luscious, labial sweetness. 



"AFTER" 23 

I met and kissed the blushing nurse, 

I thought she'd Hke it, maybe ; 
A Httle girl, with flowing curl, 

I kissed, and then a baby. 

I met my wife and kissed her thrice ; 

She said, but not in warning: 
''My dearest, this is the seventh kiss 

You've given me since morning." 

THE YOUNG PATER. 

Does it grate upon your senses 

As you see yon passer-by? 
Seems he owns the earth and fences ; 

Note his proud, exultant eye. 

He's too young to take possession 
Of the earthly powers that be ; 

That's your natural impression 
As his homeward steps you see. 

But you will forgive him, maybe, 

And declare his manner meet, 
When you learn he owns a baby 

That he thinks is very sweet. 



2 4 CARMINELLA 

And his baby's got to talking, 
And it isn't strange, ha, ha! 

That he's changed his way of walking 
Since his baby says 'Tapa". 



BY THE PERKIOMEN. 

Say, wife, do you know, in the years ago, 
When you were a girl with short-cut curl. 

And I, well, I was a woe-man. 
How I stood by the brink — and my heart did sink, 
Like the mirrored trees, swung by April breeze — ■ 

By the brink of the Perkiomen? 

You were far away on that April day. 

As the cloud was blue, so your heart was true, 

But because of some evil omen, 
I thought you'd forgot and loved me not. 
And that was why I was ''blue" as the sky, 

As I stood by the Perkiomen. 

So I steeled my heart to forget its smart. 
And dream instead of a pretty co-ed. ; 

Now, if I had changed her cognomen. 
Pray, tell me true, do you think that you 
Would be to-day as happy and gay, — 

If rd staved bv the Perkiomen? 



"AFTER " 



25 



I'm glad, so I am, that the hours came 
When the dark clouds rolled from the skies of 
old, 
And my heart ceased its weary roamin' ; 
But I can't help think how I mourned by the 

brink, — 
Away from my girl with the short-cut curl, — 
By the brink of the Perkiomen. 



THE HIGHWAY ROBBER. 

Last night, before I reached my gate, 
While the evening shades were falling, 

A little robber made me wait, 
A halt upon me caUing. 

He had no gun, he had no knife. 
His eyes betrayed some laughter; 

So I perceived 'twas not my life, 
Nor money, he was after. 

His case shall not (to please his ma) 

Go on the trial docket; 
For all he said was this : "Papa, 

What has you in your pocket?" 



2 6 CARMINELLA 



THE MATRIMONIAL BROOM. 

When the matrimonial broom 
Has ceased to cleanse the room 

With its proverbial perfection, 
It 's an economic trick 
For the wife to save the stick 

For purposes of correction. 



KITTY. 

Kitty, the flaxen curled. 
Has gone to the dolly world 
Because she was lately hurled 

From her little m.amma's arm. 
Receiving fatal harm. 

What shall the mamma do? 
She'll shed a tear or two. 
Then straightway her pa pursue 
With her favorite little plea, — 
"Buy anodder doll for me." 



"AFTER" 2-j 

LULLABY. 

R.ock a bye, baby, 

Gently will sleep 
Lock thy eyes, maybe, 

Till the day peep. 

Waking stars brightly, 

God's watchers, gleam ; 
Take thy sleep lightly, 

Happily dream. 

Thee need the folly 

Of care not enthrall ; 
HE cares for dolly. 

Baby, and all. 

FAREWELL TO THE MUSE. 

Muse, please do not chide 
If I no longer woo thee ; 

1 must be satisfied 

To be a ''brother" to thee. 
Some years ago I wed 
Another ; 

And now a little mister 
Has come to join his sister 
And mother; 
And these want bread. 



28 CARMINELLA 

BY THE KITCHEN FIRE. 

The long, long winter nights are here 
When, by the kitchen fire's glow, 

I live, with every passing year, 
The life, again, of long ago. 

Scarce are the dishes done for ma 
Ere some bright toddler, full of joy. 

Entreats me, ''Tell me 'dory', pa. 
Of when you were a little boy." 

It must be I am growing old ; 

I count the ''crowd" and feel that way ; 
But when their faces I behold, 

I feel like them, as young and gay. 

And when, to those that call me "pop", 
I tell my stories o'er and o'er, — 

Though now and then a tear may drop, — 
I feel my boyhood's life once more. 

God bless them : though I'm growing old 
After the ways of mortal men. 

The children and the stories told 
Still iiake me doubly young again. 



STRAY COLLEGE VERSE. 



From The Lafayette. 



THE V-TRICK. 

He was walking, oh, so stately, 
One of our renowned eleven, 

While the ice was on the sidewalk 
And the snow came down from heaven. 

From a window smiled a maiden 

Who had shared his glory with him. 

And behold, an exhibition 

Far too grand for rhyme or rhythm. 

Of his glory to remind her. 
Up he raised his feet, and he 

Thus maintained his reputation — 
Making ten yards on a V. 



$0 CARMINELLA 

HOW IT AFFECTS WOMEN. 

Aeneas and beautiful Dido 

Once flirted, a long time ago; 
And as it was leap year, she said: 
"I love you, oh, will you me wed?" 

But pater Aeneas said *'No." 
Then straightway she went and she died, oh ! 

HYPNOPSIS. 

So sleep that when thy summons comes to join 
The yawning crowd of students hustling on 
To chapel in the morn, where each must take 
His place among the rest, or absence get. 
Thou go not, if at least too "sick" thou art, 
Without thy breakfast, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust that thou wilt be 
Excused, do wrap the drapery of thy couch 
About thee, and lie down to pleasant dreams. 



THE MUSE JOKES. 

Said the Muse to me invoking: 
''Still in numbers utter thou; 

But un-4-io-8-ly, rhymster, 
I have nothing w-8o now." 



COLLEGE VERSE 31 

EFFECT AND CAUSE. 

Exceedingly blue was the morning, 
My answers professors were scorning, 
Too much by their hammering harassed, 
I was in the end so embarrassed 
That coldly I flunked ; and I fear, oh, 
The professors have given me zero. 
But it softens the pain of their action. 
My having the sweet satisfaction — 
She loves me, she loves me. 



SOMETIMES. 

Begging Hiawatha's pardon, — 

Not as to the beau the girl is 

So unto the man the wife is ; 

When she has him, safely has him, 

Then the fur begins a-flying, 

And the bee begins a-buzzing, 

And there's humming, ceaseless humming. 

And the coals — she rakes him over. 

Thus it sometimes strangely happens. 



32 CARMINELLA 

PLAYING HORSE. 

A little girl I used to know, 

With innocent and happy heart; 
And in the school days, long ago, 
I used to play the driver's part, 
And she 
Played horse with me. 

That is a hallowed thought ; but now 

My soul doth sadly in me sink ; 
She, now a maiden, heard my vow 
But still I'm sad ; because I think 
That she 
'Tlavs horse" with me. 



A GENERAL LAW. 

Man knows that the doctor gives pills made of 

bread. 
And sugar of milk with a color of red ; 
He knows that the lawyer is likely to lie, 
Yet he takes it all in ; it's peculiar why. 

Men like to buy organs with twenty dead stops. 
Get married to women, half milliner shops. 
While in by the fakirs the shekels are raked, 
All owing to this : Man v/ants to be faked. 



COLLEGE VERSE ^^ 

THE MAID, AGAIN. 

Oh, whom are you hunting, my pretty maid ? 

'Tm hunting a hangman, sir," she said ; 
And why do you want him, my pretty maid ? 

*To choke off these parody makers," she said 



SPEED THE DAY. 

When every poetaster 
Is sorely sick to spin it. 

Some new slang will be master, 
And "in it" won't be in it. 



THE ASTRONOMER. 

T'm tired to-night," the astronomer said. 
As he sadly looked up at the moon ; 

Tm longing once more for the days that are 
dead, 
Of childhood departed too soon." 



34 CARMINELLA 

I wish I could dream as I used to dream then 

Of yonder celestial orb ; 
Of heaven and stars could I but again 

Myself in those fancies absorb. 

The stars were all angels ; not Neptune or Mars 
Would haunt me in reasonings deep ; 

And the moon was a cradle for wee little stars, 
Whom breezes of heaven would rock into sleep. 

The firmament then, all so glorious and grand, 

Was heaven seen dimly by me; 
No comfort 'tis now to know that that land 

May elsewhere — I know not where — be. 

*l'm tired to-night," the astronomer said, 
As he sadly looked up at the moon; 

"I'm longing once more for the days that are 
dead. 
Of childhood departed too soon." 



COLLEGE VERSE 35 

From Ninety-Two's Melange. 
JUNIOR CLASS ODE. 

The college mill grinds rather slow 

But grinds exceeding well ; 
And, as the wheels their circuits go, 

The Grinder, Time, can tell 
Who with the chaff escaped the mill 

(On college Hsts disclosed), 
And who has best endured the test 

Of labors hard imposed. 

Two years at length have brought the days 

When, clothed in Junior pride. 
On glories of the past we gaze. 

And long to rend aside 
The veil that hides the rolling sea 

And vessels cleaving through. 
Where soon shall float each struggling boat 

Of men of Ninety-Two. 

Ye men who have together shared 

Three years of common life. 
When Senior year shall have prepared 
^ Us for the greater strife. 
To Alma Mater's worthy claims, 

To class and self be true ; 
Then long shall shine the "Pearl and Wine", 

The class of Ninety-Two. 



36 CARMINELLA 

YE SENIOR. 

To what we do our prestige owe 
'Tis very hard to tell, unless 

It is what people think we know 
And not the lore we do possess. 



YE JUNIOR. 

Now I live in lands elysian, 

Clouds all scattered from the skies ; 
Here I view by day the vision 

Which at eve I realize ; — 
O ye forms that vie with Venus, 

Bright has dawned the happy day, 
When each tide that rolled between us 

Now has washed, at length, away. 



YE SOPHOMORE. 

Red I paint the city, 

Green I paint the fences, 
Blue I am at morning. 

Dull are all my senses ; 
Full of blow, and valor 

Minus its discretion, 
Sophomore in name, but — 

Painter by profession. 



COLLEGE VERSE 37 

YE FRESHMAN. 

The grass becomes more verdant yet 
When by a summer shower wet. 
But when the Freshman comes to us, 

Like treatment do we tender him, 
Yet strange to say, in hopes that thus 

Less verdant we may render him. 



AT EASTON, PA. 

"Big Ellis's'^ feet, as no one refutes, 

Were such as would make a man shiver ; 

But he found here a jack large enough for his 
boots 
In the "Forks of the Delaware river". 



TO NINETY-THREE. 

Of her first disobedience and the fruit 
Of that forbidden task, when Ninety-Three 
As Freshmen tried the chapel door and two 
Of her green rushers by one stronger man 
Found in the gutter their un-blissful seat, 
Say nothing, Lafayette Muse, that on the top 
Of College Hill dost flop thy wings and speak 
Torth dreadful past, when thou dost speak. 



38 CARMINELLA 

A WARNING. 

Oh, flirt not with the Jersey dames 

And Easton maids and a' that; 
The Senior sees it in a Ught 

In which you never saw that. 
You think them cute, you love their smiles, 

Their tinsel show and a' that ; 
When the ice-cream season comes you'll know 

A girl's a girl for a' that. 



THE RAVIN' SOPHOMORE. 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I found me 

weak and weary, 
Riding horses over Livy and the like forgotten 

lore, 
While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there 

came a tapping, 
Oh, a tooting and a tapping, then I opened up 

the door; 
Visitors they — ''Who are you?" — asked I of the 

first one at the door ; 

Quoth he, "I'm a Sophomore." 



COLLEGE VERSE 39 

Ah, distinctly I remember, — that was sometime 

last September, — 
Suddenly arose my temper, and they swept with 

me the floor ; 
Eagerly I wished the morrow, they proceeded 

then to borrow. 
From my bed a quilt to borrow, to the ceiling did 

I soar. 
And with such a mob assailing was resistance 

unavailing. 

And but made me — suffer more. 



Backward now my thoughts are going to the 

toothpicks and the rowing. 
To the rowing in the basin and my '^pulling for 

the shore"; 
To the deep humiliation of the tricks that found 

creation 
In the calabash of some one who now long has 

''gone before". 
And despite my fear of leaving, I'm resolved as 

ne'er before, — 

Wait till I'm a Sophomore! 



40 CARMINELLA 

AN UNCOMMON BREEZE. 

A Fayerweather wind came from the sea, 
And said, "Ye schools, make room for me." 

It came to Yale, and thus it blew: 
"Three hundred thousand unto you." 

Then to Cornell, and to it told: 

"You have two hundred thousand cold." 

Back to Columbia, thus it spoke: 
"Like good to you I will invoke." 

It thusly breathed on Lafayette : 

"There's a hundred thousand for you to get." 

To many a college thus it went, 
To each a precious promise lent. 

It came to Lehigh, chill and rough. 
And said, "Here's wind and gas enough 

And added, while it passed her by, 
"Cold day, cold day, in quiet lie." 



CLASS DAY POEM. 



With poetic license granted, 

Such as other mortals lack, 
Rhetoric and rhyme supplanted, 

Grammar lying on its back, 
With a host of like abuses 

Making every form of ill, 
'Tis not hard to court the muses 

And the public patience kill. 

Neither need we ask the guiding 

Of the Pegasus of old ; 
For our backs are weary "riding", 

With a soreness yet untold. 
But we seek the muses' dwelling, — 

Paxinosa, not so far, — 
With another force propelling. 

We may take th' electric car. 



42 CARMINELLA 

Muses ye of yonder mountain, 

Fairest muses ever found, 
Drinking deep of Shawnee fountain, 

Send soft melody around. 
Sing whate'er to you is given, 

Be it, aye, to bless or blame, 
Past or future, earth or heaven. 

Anything, it's all the same. 

Now they sing : Then hear, ye mortals, 

Knowledge never known before. 
Coming from the cloudy portals. 

Rich and deep and weighty lore; 
First we say, observe it duly, 

This with us had origin : 
Truly, truly, this is truly 

"A great age we're living in." 

Great is Ninety-Two ; no greater 

Class left Lafayette halls; 
Neither will there leave, though later 

Fifty times the mantle falls. 
Great of cities fair is Easton ; 

Some more modest muse then saith, 
Fairest next for eyes to feast on 

Is yon village Nazareth. 



CLASS POEM 43 

Envy not, ye under classes, 

As we now the praises sum 
Unto her which far surpasses 

Classes by-gone or to come. 
Envy not ; more modest feeling 

Will be theirs when once they go ; 
But to-day it is their dealing, 

Soon will come your turn — to blow. 

What destroyed the calf ? Congestion 

Of the brain, said Ninety-One. 
Answers Ninety-Two the question, 

"Nay, by us the deed was done." 
Who was it that checked all hazing ? 

Praise to her to whom 'tis due ; 
Verily it is amazing 

How so good was Ninety-Two. 

Then who paralyzed the tutors. 

Took the highest grade yet made ? 
To those young and learned "shooters", 

Ninety-Two, the palm be laid. 
And aside from college duties, 

In the town's society, 
Who was it that charmed the beauties ? 

Ninety-Two, assuredly. 



44 CARMINELLA 

Every one of them a scholar, 

Bound to spread himself — in time. 
First of them is Nathan Aller, 

(So pronounced here for the rhyme.) 
Graduate of the laboratory ; 

Next is "Gussy", tall and fair ; 
First a Greek, he sees more glory 

In creating "stinks" down there. 

Bond Erastus, the surveyor, 

Six feet two or three of him ; 
Chamberlain, so great a player 

On the 'varsity marble team ; 
Skilled in whist is Johnny Craven, 

And the game of two to one ; 
Do not say, 'twould make Dare ravin' 

Just how oft he's upward gone. 

Drew, called "Hitch", averse to punning, 

( Hitch this in and hear him tear ; ) 
Wayne Dumont, who'll soon be running 

For the Presidential chair ; 
Fisler, who with "no, sir", "yes, sir", 

Wins his A. B. sheepskin yet ; 
Elliot, John, who loved Professor, 

But the prize he didn't get. 



CLASS POEM 45 

Billy Funk, inseparable 

From his tnisty pipe of clay ; 
Greves, the good boy, loved by Gable 

And the rest since entrance day ; 
Bobby Hamilton, the poler, 

Man of studious ways and looks 
Howard, whose brain is a "roller", 

Worth perhaps a thousand books. 

Hower, who has fortunes (?) heaping, 

Managing The Lafayette; 
Jack, of Scotland, found a weeping 

For a few more worlds to get ; 
Jones, whose pointless information 

To the Profs, much humor yields ; 
Kellogg, by a foreign nation, 

Jersey, claimed from Western fields. 

Now comes Laird, down-town Professor, 

Biologically bent ; 
Follows Leiper, the possessor 

Of huge up-and-down extent; 
**Fat", not given much to hustle 

But to shuffle and to dine ; 
March, the man of mind and muscle, 

Noble lad of noble line. 



46 CARMINELLA 

Meily, who with glad reception, 

Stranger to our column comes ; 
Mitchell, like friend Hower, exception, 

General Sci.'s, not general bums. 
Nesbit, much to impulse given, 

All the same an honest man ; 
Giant Oliver, of the eleven, 

Alias O'Hoolihan. 

Rodenbough, the lucky guesser, 

Four long years to that inclined ; 
Sechrist, unser Deutsch professor, 

Guter und gelehrter f reund ; 
Seem, who holds the proud position 

Of the fairest man in class ; 
Semple, Jr., a musician. 

Lacking only tune, alas! 

Shimer, Sigman, Tyler, Walters, 

Reads the bottom of the scroll, 
Wasley, Young, — the scribe here falters,- 

Endeth here the muster-roll. 
Not quite ended ; the Doctor's baby 

By adoption with us goes. 
Proud of him, for he will, maybe, 

Make a "prexy", too, who knows ? 



CLASS POEM 47 

Thus were Two-and-Ninety's praises 

Sung by muses unto her, 
While I saw the morning hazes 

Resting on the Delaware, 
And beheld fair Paxinosa 

Clad in cloudy mantle still, 
While there never yet arose a 

Noise of day from College Hill. 

But when rays of early morning 

Clearer views to me unfold, 
Mist removing, all adorning. 

What is it that I behold? 
Muses they at Shawnee waters, 

Singing thus of Pearl and Wine ? 
No, but Paxinosa's daughters. 

Fairer than the muses nine. 

^'Sarcasm's now forever ended, 

Nobly have you drained the cup ; 
All forgive; be not offended 

If these muses did you up." 
Then with parting burden laden 

Up the mountain pathway passed 
Each fair, muse-inspired maiden. 

This the song they uttered last : 



48 CARMINELLA 

"As maroon and white are ever 

Like the colors wine and pearl, 
So may Two-and-Ninety never 

Tn disgrace these four unfurl, 
But be like her college mother" ; 

Thus their last few echoes fell; 
From the steeps I heard another, 

Twas the echo of "Farewell!' 




TEARS AND SMILES. 



SEPTEMBER 19, 1901. 

Half-masted clouds, in Autumn drapery, 
Hung low, in honor of his worth ; 

And heaven, betraying deepest sympathy. 
Mingled her tears with those of earth. 

The sun appeared ; 'twas like a smile of love 
On a face bedewed with sorrow's stains ; 

And men took heart and said, "The God above 
Still overrules and guides and reigns". 



WHEN WE MEET AGAIN. 

Oh, ask me not to see his form 

Now that he's run life's little span ; 
I would not in my mind displace 
The picture of the living grace 
And manhood of the living man. 



50 CARMINELLA 

I cannot see him: on memory's walls 

I would no tearful picture cast ; 
So in the resurrection glow 
His happy face at once I'll know, 
'Twill seem just as I saw him last. 



BE HUMBLE. 

If mistakes could be converted 
Into haystacks, large and steep, 

It might then be well asserted 
Hay was getting very cheap. 

We could all keep horses 

From our own resources. 

Could you promise fame for ages 
Unto each one who could ask 

Something that would put the sages 
To a more than human task, 

Every ignoramus 

Shortly would be famous. 



TEARS AND SMILES 51 

CHEAP XOTORIETY. 

"You are getting famous, 
For I see your name is 
In your weekly paper", 

Said the cheerful wag 
With a wink and caper. 

Pointing to the — tag. 
"Conspicuous, too, 
Marked with blue", — 
(Subscription due!) 



THE MLLAGE POET. 

C)n the highest summits standing, 
Men like Mozart, Mendelsohn, 
Music's wide domain commanding. 
Seem alone to hold the throne, — 
2\Ien whose music sweet and holy 
Charms the rich and soothes the lowly, 
Makes our inmost souls to hear 
And to rise above this sphere. 



52 CARMINELLA 

Yet what town has not musicians, 
Somewhat better than the rest, 
Who have reached no high positions 

Nor in Fame's gay robes are dressed 
Yet some good to men are bringing 
And themselves alike by singing, 
Even though it should but come 
From the strains of ''Home, sweet Home". 

So among the poets, only 

To Milton, Shakespeare, and a few. 
Standing on Parnassus lonely. 

Is the praise of masters due ; 
Still though not one moment dreaming 
For the fame that's on them beaming, 
Why may not the village throng 
Hear the village poet's song? 

All cannot admire the grandeur 

Of the works of Mendelsohn, 
Or the depths of thought and splendor 

Of a master bard well known ; 
So the tender music pealing 
From the village choir with feeling 
And her poet's numbers, too, 
Have some little work to do. 



TEARS AND SMILES SS 

IN JANUARY. 

He slips, 

He reels, 
He trips, 

He kneels, 
He grips. 

He feels, 
He tips. 
His heels, 
And mutters as he rolls and rolls, 
"These be the days that try men's soles". 

"PLANTATIONS." 

My pedal terminations 
Are rudely called "plantations"; 
Yet, maybe, rightly, for 'tis true 
I have an acher there, or two. 

DIFFERENT LIFE PATHS. 

Strange are the courses that one finds 

In life-paths here below ; 
To some it e'en in summer winds 

O'er mountains capped with snow; 



54 CARMINELLA 

To others, e'en in wintry days, 
Through verdant southern vale, 

'Neath Pleasure's ever pleasing rays, 
Past founts not wont to fail. 

At last all in a vale converge 

By weeping willows lined, 
They meet death's cold and sullen surge, 

The lot of all mankind. 

UNSPOKEN TPIOUGHTS AND PASSIONS. 

Within the minds of humans 
Dwells many a sweeter thought 

Than e'er the pen of poets 
To poetry hath wrought. 

Within the hearts of thousands 

Oft greater passions swell 
Than ever man hath spoken 

Or ever man can tell. 

In one sweet way we tell them, 

'Tis by the silent tear; 
But ah, the world oft knoweth 

The meaning- not, I fear. 



TEARS AND SMILES 55 

GREATNESS. 

I was of glory the possesor 
When people dubbed me as "professor" ; 
I probably threw back my shoulder 
When I became an office-holder; 
But if I should turn out to be 

One of the nation's best defenders, 
Twould not bring half such joy to me 

As when I wore my first suspenders. 

The beauty of the ''silver" buckle 

Would cause me inwardly to chuckle. 

How the straps would stretch — 'twas more to 

think on 
Than if I held the chair of Lincoln. 
To kick the dog, to chase the cat. 

To feel that everything surrenders, — 
I haven't been so big as that 

Since for the first I wore suspenders. 



56 CARMINELLA 

THE ANIMAL MAN. 

A zoologist coming from Mars 

To the land of the stripes and the stars, 

To study the animal Man, 
v^hanced lighting on Thanksgiving day ; 
He found us all putting away 

Much more of our provender than 
He thought we could easily hold. 
The next day it snowed and was cold. 
He said, as he back again flew, 
**They hibernate, surely they do." 



CONGENIAL COMPANY. 

Came sudden bad weather ; 
Sir Go-as-you-please 
Had not an umbrella: 
In his consternation. 
He met Retrogression ; 
This like-minded fellow 
And that, at their ease. 
Then tramped back together. 



TEARS AND SMILES $7 

JUSTICE A CRIPPLE. 

How nimble is Justice to capture a tramp 

And cage him a year or more ; 
But she wabbles and waits till the well-dressed 
scamp 

Gets away to the Canada shore. 

Six years you may get and get it right quick, 

For stealing a bridle or broom ; 
But breaking a bank, if you do it '^slick", 

Will delay or diminish your doom. 

So perhaps it is true that Justice is blind, 

Or ought to wear glasses to see ; 
And upon diagnosis perhaps you will find 

She's a little bit weak at the knee. 

WOLVES AND TIGERS. 

Whether this is fact or fiction 
May be left to your conviction 

After due deliberation : 
Once, but when I don't remember. 
Let us say it was November, 

Sometime since the world's creation; — 



58 CARMINELLA 

Once there was a wolf — a tame one — 
Maybe, now, it was the same one 

Honored by the ancient Romans 
As their founder's foster mother; 
Likely, though, it was another. 

Just an ordinary showman's. 

Likewise, too, there was a man, sir, 
Who he was I couldn't answer, 

A physician by profession. 
In his line he was a master. 
And a curious salve or plaster 

Was, they say, in his possession. 

Well, he made his lupine highness 
Caudal termination minus. 

So the story then continues. 
Of the salve one application 
Caused the wolf tail's restoration, 

Bone and flesh complete, and sinews. 

On the severed caudal ending 
Likewise salve and skill expending. 
Scientific care bestowing, 



TEARS AND SMILES 59 

Soon he saw with satisfaction 
That with curious double action 

To the tail a wolf was growing. 



In the mighty city yonder 
Lived a tiger fat from plunder; 

He plays dead since last election ; 
But he has no serious ailing, 
It is simply a curtailing; 

There will be a resurrection. 

Stump and tail with salve are treated 
And the Christian men are cheated, 

F'or their eyes are deep in slumber; 
Sometime they will hear a roaring 
And discover on exploring 

There be tigers two in number. 



THE OLD HOME SOLD. 

Brother, you say the old home's sold, 

Where all our boyhood years were spent, 

Where oft we played in days of old. 
As summer seasons came and went. 



6o CARMINELLA 

The roof that sheltered us at night, 
The flower beds, the willow tree, 

The comer pine of stately hight, 
Have passed, you say, in simple fee. 

The meadows where the brooklets run 
(No faster than our feet could trot) 

Have to a stranger's title gone. 
With claim to every sacred spot? 

If I should pick an apple up 

Beneath my favorite tree, some day. 
Could now a stranger's low-lived pup 

Deny my right, dispute my way? 

Old Jack ! a fine old dog was he. 
Our guardian of those early years ; 

His grave is sold, — by the old pear tree 
We buried him, with childish tears. 

And is it all in stranger's hands? 

On every spot do alien feet 
Step free, and owns he house and lands 

By title clear and right complete? 



TEARS AND SMILES 6i 

No, no; the title to the sites 

And all that dear to us appears 
Is subject to prescriptive rights 

Of those our fifteen boyhood years. 

As long as we remain below, 

These sacred rights may none gainsay 

Though owners come and owners go, 
The old home's yours and mine alway. 

And when we get a better home, 
When we awake, beyond the skies, 

Unseen we now and then may roam 
By haunts once dear to mortal eyes. 



BY THE O-HI-O. 

(AT CLIFTON, PA.) 

Oh, I'll not forget till my sun is set 

The scenes of the years ago, 
When I lived on the hill with the country folk, 
Away from the soot of the "City of Smoke", 

On the cliffs, by the O-hi-o. 



62 CARMINELLA 

You could see there the sun in its bed He down 

In gorgeous drapery low ; 
'Twas above the fog of the river's way, 
There the air w^as pure as the breath of May, 

On the cliffs, by the O-hi-o. 

There the cliff-tops wed the skies overhead, 

Wed the cloudlets white as snow ; 
And I wish till the Shadow my form enshrouds, 
My hfe could be always as near to the clouds 
As the cliffs, by the O-hi-o. 



A "GOOSE EGG". 

The teacher asked a high school "blossom' 

To conjugate the Latin possum. 

I am afraid she got a zero 

From that most cruel-hearted Nero; 

For 'possum-like the verb had left her 

And of the slightest trace bereft her. 



TEARS AND SMILES 6^ 

A THREAT. 

Reviewer, don't you, don't you do it, 

Bold, bad man; 
This my book — should you review it, 
Do not rave or you may rue it, 
Do not char me though you toast me, 
Don't you ever dare to "roast" me — 

In your pan. 

If my little pill-joTim verses, 

Like a drug. 
Stun you, or provoke your curses, 
Or my book your peace disperses. 
Don't you dare ill-treat my numbers. 
Or you'll sleep your next night's slumbers 

In the "jug". 

If you pour vituperation, 

Rave and tear, 
O'er my very worst creation, 
Don't reprint the perpetration ; 
Uncle's good — I am delighted — 
E'en my worst is copyrighted, 

So beware. 



64 CARMINELLA 



FINIS TO VOLUME ONE. 

My ^gg is laid at last ; 

Of quality within 
Its "freshness" unsurpassed; 

But as the shell is thin, 
Step lightly, older hens, for fear 
My tender little ^gg so dear, 
My first, 
Might burst! 



MlLLEiNIAL HARMONIES. 



HOW LONG, O LORD? 

Creation groans: 

The beast, the wind, the wave. 
And everything, in plaintive undertones, 

The sentence of the grave. 
The fall, bemoans. 

Creation waits — 

The revealing to behold, 
When God's true sons take up their high estates 

And Christ the Paradise of old 
Anew creates. 

O Lord, how long, 

Most holy One and true. 
Till all creation shall break forth in song, 

And thy reign is fully due ? 
O Lord, how long? 

Not long, we know ; 

For thy prophetic word. 
The lamp that lights our pathway as we go, 

Which never yet has erred, — 
It tells us so. 



66 CARMINELLA 

IT IS DONE. 

" 'Tis done" : a perfect home for man, 
An end in view, a perfect plan. 
Were all complete the seventh day; 
And man commanded to obey. 
But v/hen he disobeyed and fell. 
Death passed on him and us as well. 

" 'Tis done" : the ransom price was paid 
When Jesus unto death obeyed ; 
The Savior did the sentence meet ; 
The ''only way" was then complete. 
Whereby a race by sin defiled 
IMight unto God be reconciled. 

" 'Tis done" : once more it will resound ; 
Then shall the evil one be bound ; 
The Christ shall reign, the dead shall rise. 
And perfect manhood be the prize 
Which Christ for all shall offer then — 
A perfect home for perfect men. 
LcFC. 



MILLENIAL HARMONIES 67 

COME OUT. 

(Tune, "Move Forward".) 

Come out of Babylon the great, 
Ye saints of God, no longer wait; 
That of her sins ye may be free, 
And of her plagues no sharer be. 

Clio. — Come out, com.e out. 

Of Babylon the great. 
Come out, come out. 
And be ye separate. 

Fallen is Babylon the great. 
And, in her, demons congregate ; 
And hateful birds and things unclean 
Are caged and hidden there unseen. 

Her sins have reached to heaven's height ; 
Her wicked deeds will God requite. 
Not with the merchants ''Woe" we'll shout, 
But praise the Lord who called us out. 



68 CARMINELLA 

THE FOOLISH VIRGINS. 

Night's solemn shadows are appearing ; 

A worldly church, not half awake, 
Plods on, not knowing neither fearing 
The midnight blackness that is nearing, 

Which soon them all will overtake. 

And what a night ahead, when darkness utter 

Will have enveloped all about, 
And untrimmed lamps, with creed oils, flutter, 
And foolish virgins mourn, and mutter — 

"Our lamps, alas, are going out." 

And in the weeping and the gnashing 
Of teeth, when hearts of many fail, 
When lightning judgments bright are flashing, 
And God's eternal thunders crashing, 
The virgin's cry will not avail. 

"The door is shut" : the prize up yonder 

No one thereafter may secure. 
And ere God's fearful judgments thunder, 
I well may pause a while and ponder, 

And ask, "Is my election sure?" 



MILLENIAL HARMONIES 69 

Thank God, this troublous night of weeping 

Precedes a day of joy for all; 
The plowing will overtake the reaping; 
A world aroused, no longer sleeping, 

Will hear the restitution call. 

LOOK UP. 

God made the human form erect 
That we might thus the better see 

The heavens, and looking oft, reflect 
Upon the life that is to be. 

But if our eyes seek but the dust, 
God may allow his child to lie 

Upon a bed of pain ; and then he must 
Look up and meet God's loving eye. 

JUST BEYOND. 

Just beyond the misty mountains 

Sleeps the earthly Paradise, 
Where the sunbeams kiss the fountains 

And the feasts for all suffice. 

Cho. — Just beyond, just beyond, 
All is glory just beyond. 



CARMINELLA 

Just this side the tribulation, 
Just beyond the finished race, 

Lies my promised heavenly station 
Where I'll see Him face to face. 



Stairs. 
Rugged 
Up the 
Climbing 
Then go gladly up a climbing, 
At the bottom drop your cares, 
Get your ticket from the Savior, 
With their bundles heavy in weight. 
If there were, what crowds would go there 
Running up to heaven's gate ; 
Oh, there is no elevator 

THE WAY. 



INFERIOR SUPERIORS. 

Although he be a double-D, 

If he respects not his divine superior 
And goes against God's high decree, 

He is the humblest soul's inferior 
And cannot claim respect from thee. 



MILLENIAL HARMONIES 71 

JESU, GEH' VORAN. 
(From the German of Zinzendorf . ) 

Jesus, lead the way 

Unto endless day. 
We will follow thy direction, 
Blest with thy divine protection. 

Guide us by the hand 

To our fatherland. 

Come whatever lot, 

Let us falter not; 
Even in our greatest losses, 
Let us bear with hope our crosses. 

For through trouble's night 

Leads the way to light. 

If within be pain. 

Help us not complain; 
If without us, too, be sorrow, 
Make us patient for the morrow; 

Let our thoughts ascend ; 

Point us to the end. 

Still direct our way, 

Savior, every day. 
Rough though be the road to heaven, 
Give the help that need be given ; 

When the trial's done, 

May the prize be won. 



By CHARLES W. LOUX. 
WHITE RIBBONS: 

Temperance Verse. 16mo., 56 pp. 
Bound in maroon cloth, silver let- 
tering. Price, 50 cents; by mail, 
53 cents. 

CARMINELLA: 

College AN D Other Verse. 16mo., 
72 pp. Bound in maroon cloth, 
silver lettering. Price, 60 cents ; 
By mail, 65 cents. 

Both the above, $i.oo. 

mMNBO0KCflMY,PF0Weilce,R.I. 



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SEP. 26 1902 



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